Johnny Skidmarks

I enjoyed this movie. The characters were portrayed interestingly and the story moved along nicely. There were not many surprises, and some of the more gruesome scenes were stretched out longer than necessary. The main attraction was the quirkiness of the characters.

Despite its title 1998's "Johnny Skidmarks" is NOT a comedy but a modest noirish thriller in which titular quiet freelance crime-scene photographer Peter Gallagher works for the cops (including John Lithgow), insurance companies AND a crew of blackmailers linked to the mob. That latter crew though start turning up dead one by one, just as Gallagher meets (through his deceased wife's brother Jack Black) sultry seductive dame Frances McDormand. Is a blackmail victim wreaking revenge, and if so is McDormand involved? Co-writer (with William Preston Robertson) / director John Raffo does a passable job - though with THAT title, it SHOULDA been a comedy.

Peter Gallagher is a police crime photographer (hence his nickname). He's a widower and hangs out at his brother-in-law Jack Black's burger joint, where he has recently met and begun an affair with grass widow and recovering alcoholic Frances McDormand. He also has a profitable side business of taking blackmail photos of men lured to a cheap motel by a prostitute; that ring is run by John Kapelos. And now the other members of the blackmail ring are being murdered. Pal John Lithgow is heading the investigation and Gallagher is worrying that Lithgow may not catch the killer before Gallagher is murdered. Also, that he might catch the murderer and Gallagher's activities will be revealed.

It's certainly a well cast, well lit neo-noir that bumps along at a steady pace despite the erratic behavior of everyone. The only real distraction is that Gallagher seems to bear a remarkable resemblance to Billy Bob Thornton, and I kept imagining how he would have handled the role. Over all, it's unremarkable, but it certainly is engaging while it's on the screen.

This film wants to be a black comedy, but doesn't quite pull it off. It's like the director every now and then said "Oh yeah, it's a black comedy. Do something funny now". It just isn't consistent. Watch "Fargo" instead. I think Frances McDormand was trying to reprise her wonderful role in that film and picked this loser. And John Lithgow is capable of so much better. Not bad but very ordinary.

forget about all the bad things you may or may not have heard about this one ,trust no one - but me. this is one fine film, enough said.